Philadelphia police say surveillance cameras cutting crime

By Jeff ShieldsThe Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — It's 10:39 a.m. outside the Fresh Donut at Seventh Street and Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia, time for water ice and malt liquor.

Clients from the nearby methadone clinic hover in 90-degree heat. Some cool off with lemonade and return to work; others pop pills, sip Steel Reserve lager, and doze. A man with a Pepsi waves to a camera up on a lamppost, which silently records the scene.

It has been a year since the first city-owned police surveillance cameras came online at 12 crime hot spots. And the results, while inconclusive, are encouraging, officials say.